Monday, May 24, 2010

This Is A Wrap-Around Story

I recalled that when I read this (but wait, there's a political angle on this as well):-

...According to a release from the Israel Religious Action Center, Noa Raz was accosted last week by the man in Beersheba’s bus station while waiting to board a bus that she takes to her job in Tel Aviv.

Raz was asked by the man two times if the imprints (*) that he noticed on her arms were from tefillin. When she answered that they were, he attacked her, kicking and strangling her. He also screamed “women are an abomination.” It is being reported that she was able to free herself from the attacker and managed to board her bus.

Raz, a Conservative Jew, is a member of Women of the Wall...The Israeli Religious Action Center has asked the Beersheba police to label the attack as a hate crime, after Raz filed a report with authorities on Wednesday.

Up until here, I was all wrapped up in her story with full sympathy.

But...

The executive director of Women of the Wall, Anat Hoffman, characterized the assault as not being isolated but instead part of a growing trend towards creating a threatening environment for women who want to pray openly. The incident “should not be seen as an isolated incident but as taking place within an atmosphere of growing violence toward and intimidation of women who seek to pray freely and equally," Hoffman told JTA.

She added, "Too often these acts of violence are tolerated. The fact that this man thought it acceptable to attack a woman for performing a religious act in private is an example of the escalation of violence targeted against women and against religious pluralists in Israel."

Dear Anat (a good acquaintance of mine in real life), if we treated all "isolated incidents" as a product of an "escalation of a growing atmosphere of violence" that is "tolerated", what are we to do about left-wing acts against chareidim, Yesha residents, etc. that we thought were simply aberrations of individuals rather than a result of an ideological onslaught against political opponents?

While most respondents say they have not experienced phenomenon, majority of haredi sector say they, or someone they know, were subject to discrimination. Survey also reveals half of Israelis give State failing grade on 'acceptance of others'

And as a postscript, a tefillin imprint is so much better than a tattoo.

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About Me

American born, my wife and I moved to Israel in 1970. We have lived at Shiloh together with our family since 1981. I was in the Betar youth movement in the US and UK. I have worked as a political aide to Members of Knesset and a Minister during 1981-1994, lectured at the Academy for National Studies 1977-1994, was director of Israel's Media Watch 1995-2000 and currently, I work at the Menachem Begin Heritage Center in Jerusalem. I was a guest media columnist on media affairs for The Jerusalem Post, op-ed contributor to various journals and for six years had a weekly media show on Arutz 7 radio. I serve as an unofficial spokesperson for the Jewish Communities in Judea & Samaria.